Today is the first official day of spring. And it’s my break even day. Yay!

See, up to now I’ve been taking a loss on the paintings. I really love this project and I’ve been excited about every single day, but I’ve considered everything up to now almost like a gift. And I love giving gifts, so this whole experience and hearing from all of you has been very rewarding even without the money. But I also like to eat.

Considering materials and preparation and time, I estimate the absolute minimum I have invested in each painting to be around $35. So starting tomorrow, I’ll just begin to break even. Isn’t that exciting?

8×10 Oil on Masonite panel $34 Sold. Join the newsletter list here.

Laurelhurst Park was inspired by the Olmsted Brothers, of Central Park fame. It was the first park listed on the National Register of Historic Places. And it’s six blocks from my house. I love my neighborhood.

8×10 Oil on Masonite panel $33 Sold. Join the newsletter list here.

By the way, we’re one-third of the way through this project. Here’s a small gift for you in celebration. Rachelle wrote a beautiful post a few weeks ago, and included a blessing for artists. I took her words and made a little watercolor to post above my desk. Then she took the watercolor and made a PDF which you can download here to print out for your very own. Enjoy!

Now that we’ve sprung forward, I have more light for painting in the afternoon and I’ve taken advantage of it this week. I took a few panels and my paint out to Laurelhurst Park to enjoy the sunshine.

The sun was coming through the trees and the light was so pretty. I think I almost captured it.

11x 14 Oil on Gessoboard Panel $32 Sold. Join the newsletter list here.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I decided to celebrate with something green today.

Being green may not always be easy, but today it’s a safe bet.

5×7 Oil on Masonite panel $31 Sold. Join the newsletter list here.

So exciting!

I love red, and these mixing bowls have served me well. But one of them has warped a bit in the dishwasher, the edge has a dent and the rubber seal has fallen off the bottom. It’s time for a replacement. But before I retire these red bowls that have been so good to me, I thought I’d honor them with a painting.

8×10 Oil on Masonite panel $30 Sold. Join the newsletter list here.

And while we’re in the kitchen: new prints!

This is my newest adventure. Recipe prints! Once I started the recipe series, I tried to think of a way to have the whole series in one frame somehow.

These are a series of pen and ink drawings I did based on the recipe on the bottom of the page. Each drawing is an ingredient in the recipe. They are printed on a warm brown chipboard using a brown soy-based ink. I love them!

Of course, I also had to test the recipe a few times, just to make sure it’s good. It is.

You can hang this print in your kitchen too! They’re available for $15 +shipping. Just email me here.

It was a great weekend. If you’re getting this newsletter because you signed up at the Buckman Show– welcome! Here’s a link that explains a little more about the project.

For everyone else, hopefully your weekend was just as terrific, but a little more relaxed than mine. My Friday and Saturday were all about the Buckman Show and Sell, a local art show benefitting an elementary school in Portland. Hundreds of people stopped by to chat– it was great!

And it’s a new week, but we’re still celebrating pies around here. Did you know that yesterday was Pi Day? (3.14, get it?) Unless you’re a middle school math teacher this probably isn’t a significant holiday in your world, but I look for any excuse for a pie.

Though I must say, eating pie is much easier than painting pie.

8×10 Oil on Masonite panel $29 Sold. Join the newsletter list here.

And while we’re in the kitchen: new prints!

This is my newest adventure. Recipe prints! Once I started the recipe series, I tried to think of a way to have the whole series in one frame somehow. The fabulous Tsilli and I brainstormed and came up with this super fun idea.

These are a series of pen and ink drawings I did based on the recipe on the bottom of the page. Each drawing is an ingredient in the recipe. They are printed on a warm brown chipboard using a brown soy-based ink. I love them!

Of course, I also had to test the recipe a few times, just to make sure it’s good. It is.

You can hang this print in your kitchen too! They’re available for $15 +shipping. Just email me here.

In an old life, I was an English teacher. One of the best parts of that job was that people had to listen to me when I read poetry aloud. I miss that.

I’ve found a few new poets lately that I love. People around me can only take so much poetry, so I had to figure out a way to share it with someone, so every Sunday I’m going to take a quote from a favorite poem and put it with a watercolor painting. Why watercolor? Because for some reason, I think it works better with words, and just for a little variety.

Here’s the fourth one. I decided that I need to move on to other poets, even though Hafiz is still my favorite, so this is the final quote from Hafiz for this project.

“The small man
Builds cages
For everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.”
–Hafiz

4×6 Watercolor on Cotton Fiber Paper. $28

Special rules apply to today’s painting. Everyone wins. On Sundays only, I’ll paint a version of this for everyone that requests one, because I think if the quote speaks to you then you should have it. Each painting will be an original and slightly different from the others I send out, but based on the painting you see above. The only rule is that I must receive your email by 5pm Pacific time today, in order to paint one just for you.

I’ve mentioned that I’m making a pie every week this year, right? This week’s pie was Peanut Butter Pie, with a chocolate crust. It was great. I can send you the recipe if you want.

Important tip: When making peanut butter pie, be sure to check that you don’t have peanut butter in your hair before leaving the house. Just sayin’.

8×10 Oil on Masonite panel $27 Sold. Join the newsletter list here.

Yes, more tulips. They came in a bunch of five and I had to paint them all before they wilted, so you get more flowers again today.

I played around with the arrangement of these, but decided they looked best if they each had their own space.

I love the bright colors of these in the white vase– it’s so different from yesterday’s tulips even though they’re from the same bouquet.

A bit of trivia: this is the last time you’ll see all three of these vases together. Last night, Chris kindly took the flowers out for me, because I was getting a little sneezy. Due to a slight marital miscommunication, the vase went out with the flowers. But we still have two, so we’re not too worried.

8×10 on Masonite Panel. $26 Sold. Join the newsletter list here.

Also, if you’re in Portland this weekend, come say hi at the Buckman Show and Sell. An art show benefiting the Buckman Elementary School, this is a tradition in the Portland area– and it’s going to be loads of fun.